“The Wolverine” Will No Longer Be A Prequel

Movies & TV

“The Wolverine” director James Mangold has announced that his upcoming film will not be a sequel after all—rather, it will be very, very distant sequel.

Although the film is a sequel to the prequel film “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” and despite being teased in the post-credits sequence that “The Wolverine” would follow as a prequel, instead the film will be a sequel to the entire “X-Men” franchise, taking place far after all existing “X-Men” films. We’re talking far after, as Mangold stated during an interview with Empire, saying, “Where this film sits in the universe of the films is after them all … Jean Grey is gone, most of the X-Men are disbanded or gone, so there’s a tremendous sense of isolation for him.”

This major re-jiggering of the classic Wolverine timeline will take his pre-X-Men storyline from the comics and, in the film, switch it to his post-X-Men timeline. Even with prequel elements littered throughout the picture—some World War II footage has already been shot, according to Coming Soon—the film will mostly take place during present day or beyond. Will it all work out in the end as we embark towards “X-Men: Days of Future Past”…?

We guess we’ll have to wait and see, as the film is slated for release in theaters on July 26, 2013.